Robot Path Straightening for Narrow-Space Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robot navigation methods struggle to safely pass through limited spaces due to sensor noise, positioning errors, and the optimality of global trajectories, often resulting in collisions.
Innovation Solution
A method that involves obtaining a planned first path using shortest path algorithms, determining the radius of the inscribed and circumscribed circles of the robot, expanding obstacles based on these radii, and generating a second path that avoids collisions by adjusting the robot's pose and path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot follows the global optimal trajectory, then the navigation efficiency is improved, but the collision probability increases due to sensor noise and positioning errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary expansion of obstacles by the robot's radius before path planning. This preprocessing action creates a safety buffer zone around obstacles, ensuring that the planned path maintains sufficient clearance from obstacles even when the robot experiences positioning errors or sensor noise during execution, thus resolving the contradiction between following an optimal trajectory and avoiding collisions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate safety margin (obstacle expansion distance) between the robot and obstacles. This intermediary buffer zone acts as a mediator that absorbs positioning errors and sensor noise, allowing the robot to follow an efficient global trajectory while maintaining safe clearance from obstacles, thereby simultaneously improving navigation efficiency and reducing collision probability
2Area of stationary object
If the robot width is close to the door width, then the space utilization is improved, but the passage ability deteriorates due to difficulty in passing through limited spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the robot's orientation angle and position coordinates as path parameters to enable safe passage through narrow doors. By changing these parameters in real-time based on the constrained space conditions, the robot can maintain high space utilization while adapting its pose to successfully pass through limited openings that would otherwise be impassable
3Reliability
If the robot adjusts pose and path dynamically, then the collision avoidance is improved, but the computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary obstacle expansion and path planning before robot execution. By pre-calculating the expanded obstacle map and generating a preliminary optimal path, the system reduces the computational burden during real-time execution, requiring only simple parameter adjustments rather than complex real-time path recalculation, thus improving collision avoidance while limiting computational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent separates the navigation task into distinct phases: offline obstacle expansion and path planning, followed by online parameter adjustment. This segmentation allows computationally intensive operations to be performed offline, while online execution requires only lightweight parameter modifications, thereby achieving reliable collision avoidance without excessive computational complexity during runtime
Data Source
AI summary
A method for navigating a robot through a limited space includes: obtaining a planned first path for the robot to reach a target position; calculating curvature and/or normal vectors of points in the first path; according to the curvature and a preset curvature threshold, and/or according to the normal vectors and a preset normal vector change threshold, obtaining a first straight path for the robot outside the limited space by curve fitting; determining an intersection of a centerline of the limited space and the first straight path, and determining a second straight path for the robot to move through the limited space according to the centerline and the intersection; and generating a second path for the robot to move through the limited space based on the first straight path and the second straight path, and navigating the robot to move through the limited space according to the second path.